Geography in general education in the Federal Republic of Germany

The professional formation of German geography teachers is advanced both at university level and for all types of schools. There is a long tradition of teaching geography as a separate independent subject in classes 5–13, whereas it is an integrated subject in classes 1–4 and only in some states, on the secondary level. Speaking for all schools and all ten federal states, it can be maintained that there is a minimum of one geography hour per week, sometimes up to two hours. However a certain decline of classroom hours has occurred during the last 30 years (which most other subjects suffered as well). As most geography teachers have another subject (or two), they have a tendency to identify as a maths teacher, for example, because of the higher general esteem the second subject may have. Still, public opinion considers geography to be of general importance for an educated citizen. This has effectively influenced the curricula, emphasizing cognitive insight in geographical aspects, topography and general understanding of man-land relationship. A higher level of critical insight, planning issues and higher intellectual objectives can be reached with geographical topics.     

Review and Prospect of Human-land Relationship in Three River Headwaters Region:Based on the Perspective of People,Events, Time and Space

The Three River Headwaters Region is the pioneer of China’s ecological civilization construction and pilot of the national park system. It is also a unique plateau with complex man-land relationship, long-standing history and diverse civilizations. For thousands of years, the relationship between the people and the land has gone through primitive harmony, tension and conflict, and gradually tends to balance and coordinate. The whole process concentrates on the game of natural forces, historical evolution and regional culture. As the elements of human settlements in the region tend to become more complex, the relationship between human and land continues to develop in breadth and depth, and it is necessary to combine dynamic analysis of time and space. From the perspective of people, events, time and space, the research progress and interaction mechanism in the interest of subjects, conflicts, background, and human settlements in the Three River Headwaters Region were summarized. Its population distribution, production, life and culture feature a typical ethnic ecological yet poverty area. The harmonious development of man-land relationship is restricted by the conflicts between human activity and ecological environment as well as cultural environment. The historical evolution progress is largely influenced by factors such as government policies and political regimes, regional trading, herders’ migration and settlement. The human living space is deeply affected by geographical environment, animal husbandry and regional culture. Furthermore, the linkage mechanism among natural element, human element, time element and space element in man-land relationship system was also analyzed. Based on these, the author proposed that future research on man-land relationship in the Three River Headwaters Region should concentrate on fields such as government policies, cultural evaluation and human settlement improvement. To be more specific, further research was suggested to be carried out from the following three aspects：quantitative research, comparative research and objective evaluation of the internal mechanism of human intervention.     

可持续生计分析研究综述

可持续生计分析框架是围绕可持续发展而提出的一种新的研究工具,是一种旨在分析社会和物质环境之间多维复杂关系的框架。通过对可持续生计研究中的国外进展的系统阐述和理论总结,较为清晰和全面地把握了可持续生计分析框架的发展轨迹和重要成果,重点阐明了可持续生计分析框架中的脆弱性背景、生计资本、生计战略和生计输出、结构和过程的转变等组分以及它们之间的相互关系,显示出人们如何利用大量的资本、权利和可能的策略去追求某种生计出路的途径。并在此基础上,讨论了可持续生计分析框架在规划确认和设计、规划新的项目和检查评估现有发展活动中的应用;这些研究在扶贫领域具有较强的参照和指导意义。     

Impact assessment of the "Grain for Green Project" and discussion on the development models in the mountain-gorge regions

To restore China’s degraded ecological environment, the government has launched an environmental restoration project named the “Grain for Green Project” (GGP) in 1999. From 1999 to 2010, the government will spend 40 billion dollars to convert 147 million ha of croplands and 173 million ha of wastelands into forestlands and grasslands in 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. A primary goal is to replace cropping and livestock grazing in fragile areas with trees and grass. Given the tremendous scale and great number of participants in the project, the attitudes of the affected farmers and the future development in the area where GGP is implemented have a direct influence on the success of the project. To gain a clear idea about the farmers’ attitudes towards the project and put forward the development models for the forestlands converted from croplands, two case sites in the mountain-gorge region in Nujiang River are selected as the study areas, and the methods of field survey and semi-structured interview are adopted to make interviews with more than 100 households in 2002 and 2003 in order to quantify the farmers’ opinions about the GGP and how it has affected their livelihood, socio-cultural and industrial structures, etc. The results are as follows: 1) the project has a certain influence on the farmers with better economic basis and exerts greater influence on the farmers living in the low-elevation regions than on those living in the regions with middle-high elevation; 2) the production models of the local farmers has changed from cultivation and animal husbandry to forestry and sidelines due to the project and the income structure has changed from animal husbandry as main income source to state subsidy and sideline as main income sources; 3) the reduction in the grain income and decrease in the quantity of livestock because of the project have led to the diminution in the total income of the farmers; 4) the project has resulted in changes in the lifestyles and architecture styles of the local farmers, and the traditional “huotang” culture has gone away after the implementation of the project; 5) energy utilization has changed from firewood to methane and electricity in the wake of the implementation of the project. The above-mentioned study results have indicated that the GGP has truly exerted influence on the livelihood and production of the local farmers. Therefore, it is very necessary to make a research into the development models in the forestlands converted from croplands to resolve the problems of the farmers’ livelihood and production. The study results will provide some references for the sustainable development of the mountain-gorge regions.     

Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainable Livelihoods Research in China

The Sustainable Livelihoods (SLs) is a significant subject and concept within the sustainable development research and it also has the potential to deal with the fundamental challenge in terms of inequalities between inter-generation and intra-generation, now and in the future. This paper adopted bibliometrics to conduct the quantitative analysis of the development, hot topics, and collaboration network in terms of SLs researches. Moreover, the analyzed parameters included publication output, distribution of publications by authors and organizations, subject classification of publication, etc. Some 809 papers were analyzed on various aspects of publication, and the results show that publication output has increased promptly over the past two decades; however, the cooperation network among different organizations and authors on the topic of SLs has not been closely linked. The hot topics of SLs involve three categories, which are ①theoretical research in terms of sustainable livelihoods; ②the research on livelihood strategy (problem-orientated); ③the research of ecological vulnerability. It is important for Chinese scholars to continue the future SLs researches in accordance with the strategy of target poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. Additionally, it is also vital to broaden the theoretical horizons by transitioning from the research on agricultural economy to the exploration of relationship of SLs-ecological environment, SLs-biodiversity, SLs-climate change and adaptation, SLs-human capital development, etc.; to strengthen the academic cooperation and exchanges; to innovate research approach; to improve both quantity and quality of research output for the purpose of providing long-term and scientific decision for the decision makers.     

Tradeoffs in carbon commodification: A political ecology of common property forest governance

Carbon markets have gained traction worldwide as an ostensibly win–win solution to climate change, providing low-cost emission reductions in the Global North and sustainable development in the Global South. However, sustainable development and livelihood co-benefits have largely failed to materialize in a range of carbon offset projects, particularly those in forest communities. While some scholars explain this failure as an outcome of fundamental tradeoffs between market efficiency and sustainable development, others argue that institutions of common property land tenure can resolve tradeoffs and generate important co-benefits for local communities. Using a political ecology approach, integrating insights of Karl Polanyi and Noel Castree on the commodification of nature and evidence from a carbon forestry project in Chiapas, Mexico, this article grapples with the ways in which carbon market requirements shape forest governance within common property tenure arrangements. I argue that the centralization of forest governance and decision making into the hands of project implementers and brokers, the necessity for legible land rights and boundaries, and the technical requirements for measurement, calculation, and monitoring of carbon have reshaped forest governance in ways that have undermined the social and ecological benefits often associated with common property management schemes. This research therefore demonstrates that so-called tradeoffs between market efficiency and equitable sustainable development goals may not be inherent to carbon forestry and calls into question the reliance on disembedding market mechanisms for climate change mitigation in forest ecosystems. As such, this work has important implications for REDD+.     

地理学基本规律及其对社会发展的影响

地理学是自然科学与社会科学的汇合,是一门独立科学,有特定的功能和演变规律。地理学的基本规律包括有地域分异规律、地域综合规律和地域发展规律等。研究地理学的基本规律有助于认识许多复杂的历史事件和社会活动,对构建社会建设的总体思想和区域发展战略有重要指导意义。     

Desert knowledge: integrating knowledge and development in arid and semi-arid drylands

Globalisation presents particular challenges for deserts given that their sparse populations, which are amongst the world’s poorest in an absolute economic sense, tend to be remote from major markets and have only a distant, marginal voice in political and policy decision making. Here we are defining deserts as the arid and semi-arid drylands that encompass 70% of Australia and 25% of the world’s land surfaces. The value of the knowledge that local traditions and science have generated about living sustainably in deserts is being promoted and extended through the ‘desert knowledge’ movement in Australia. The Australian research reported here, together with a contribution from Niger that offers a contrast and some lessons for Australia, is largely underpinned by a neopopulist paradigm of development stressing respect for local knowledge, participatory practice and empowerment. Research in partnership with desert Aboriginal groups is contributing to their engagement with new livelihood opportunities. The local knowledge of livestock graziers is also being engaged to support sustainable management of desert water sources and landscapes for multiple values. The research reported here also addresses opportunities and challenges for local norms, identities, knowledge systems, governance and livelihoods from broader scale processes and institutions. In doing so it contributes to a ‘neo-ideographic approach’ wherein desert people might better harness their locality, knowledge and diversity in adaptations that shape their encounters with globalisation. It also points to considerable scope to mature such an approach.     

地理科学研究的理论和实践———以长江三角洲为例

地理科学系统研究人类与自然（环境）间的相互关系和相互作用，从全球变化的高度进行研究，自全新世以来，把人类作为与各自然圈层的总和相对等的一个圈层。因此，在研究框架图式中，在IGBPⅡ图式之外，增加了一个人类圈，并以人类圈作为中心，表示人类圈与各自然圈层间的相互关系和相互作用。把中国地理科学系统研究与国际全球变化研究联接起来，使中国地理科学走向世界，这些就是地理科学系统理论的创新之处。在实践中，我们先对长江三角洲地区进行详细研究，拟出许多具体研究课题，提出研究时应遵循的一些原则。如图 2所示，根据地理科学系统理论研究长江三角洲，其最终目的就是对该地区可持续发展提供科学依据。但长江三角洲可持续发展已是一个独立的重大科研项目，已由中国科学院进行研究，故在此仅做简略评述。     

Potential suitability for urban planning and industry development using natural hazard maps and geological–geomorphological parameters

During the planning of an urban environment, usually only economic and social parameters are taken into account. As a result, urban areas are susceptible to natural disasters, which cause extensive damages in them, because the cities or towns have been repeatedly located in vulnerable areas. In this study, for the protection of human environment, is proposed a unique approach of urban planning and sustainable development. The study area is Trikala Prefecture (Western Thessaly, Central Greece). An integrated evaluation of the suitable areas for urban growth and light industry development is proposed by using mainly natural hazards as well as geological–geomorphological–geographical characteristics of the study area. The used parameters were correlated by using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method and incorporated into a geographic information system (GIS) in order to produce the corresponding suitability maps. The study area is classified in five categories of very high, high, moderate, low, and very low suitability for urban growth and industrial development. Moreover, the spatio-temporal changes of the urban limits are studied since 1885 for the three major towns (Trikala, Kalambaka and Pyli) of the study area. These changes sketch out the urban growth trend. The comparison between the urban growth trend with the potential suitability for urban growth and industrial development of these towns lead to discrepancies. These can be attributed mainly to the fact that in the majority of cases, only geographical, social, and economical factors were used for urban development, whereas in our study, natural hazards, geomorphological, and geographical parameters were quantified and taken into account.     

Ecological primordialism: the human–environment nexus in Soqotra

This article depicts the initial human–environmental relations that prevailed during the pre-modern period of Soqotra’s history prior to its incorporation into a state-led modernization process and its subsequent enclosure within a United Nations-designed conservation zoning plan and ecotourism economy. The term ecological primordialism is coined to highlight the primacy of the environment as the enabling and constraining context for the constitution of the Soqotran community. It entails a symbiotic relationship between an ecosystem and a human social system, which structured the contingent relations between the raw materials for livelihood making and community formation: people, resources and space. The article elucidates how Soqotrans managed this mostly constraining human–environment nexus through a series of adaptive practices: their taxonomic appropriation and practical domestication of the island’s environmental resources; their transformation of the landscape into a domain of livelihood; their organization of dispersed settlements into a socio-political unit; their demarcation of the island into geographical zones of cultural differentiation; and their establishment of mutual aid institutions that simultaneously regulated resource use while integrating all islanders into relations of social kinship. The article concludes with a cautionary tale about the use of anachronistic human–environment relations as the basis of conservation policy.     

Groundwater resource development in Jamui District,Bihar, India: an overview

Because agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the bulk of the population in Jamui District, the importance of developing irrigation facilities in any programme of economic regeneration can hardly be over emphasized. It is, therefore, imperative that groundwater development be considered as an important step to drought mitigation in the Jamui district. The present study was carried out in such a way that technical and economic viability of any groundwater development plan can be thoroughly scrutinized. In this paper the hydrogeological framework of the district was established based on aquifer disposition, orientation of potential fracture systems and their hydraulic characteristics. Considering the aquifer geometry and yield potential of different structures, a blueprint for a groundwater development plan was prepared. An economic analysis of the development plan also was attempted. The analysis yielded results that made it possible to evaluate parameters such as cost–benefit ratio, incremental benefits and internal rate of return used to assess the economic viability of the groundwater development plan. Electronic Publication     

Current status and remediation measures for the solid mine ecological environment in Beijing,China

In comparison with the developed countries, renewal work on ecological environment of mines in China has fallen behind. Along with an increasing attention to environment, reinforcing renewal work of ecological environment around mine is eagerly required. At present, ecological environment problems of solid mines are very serious in Beijing and the situation is obviously incompatible with the developing orientation and layout of the city. Based on the summary and analysis of previous research about ecological environment renewal work, this article proposes general principles and specific measures needed for the reclamation of the mine ecological environment by combining with relevant laws, the characteristics of weather, hydrology, rainfall, soil, and the mining geology environment in Beijing. This study has important academic and practical significance, it can lessen government burden for mineral resources sustainable development and lead to protection of the environment, construction of an economical society, and it can also enhance societal progress and economic development in Beijing. At the same time, the mine environment issue is very serious in other areas of China; therefore, this article may also provide useful reference for areas outside of Beijing.     

Temporary labour migration and sustainable post-conflict return in Sierra Leone

Economic and social development indicators suggest that the small West African state of Sierra Leone is among the poorest countries in the world. Sierra Leone’s economy and quality of life deteriorated rapidly during a decade of political instability and civil war in the 1990s, when many people fled their homes and abandoned their livelihoods due to the rebel insurgency. This paper examines the post-war reconstruction scenario in Sierra Leone and presents recent evidence from two rural communities in the Eastern Province that were badly affected by the conflict. The paper considers the links between the farming and diamond mining sectors, which, despite severe dislocation during the conflict period, have proved to be remarkably resilient. It is argued that seasonal labour mobility associated with this dual economy has not only continued to be a key ingredient in sustaining livelihood portfolios, but is actually an essential pre-condition for the creation of an enabling environment for sustainable post-conflict return.

社会资本在可持续发展中的作用

可持续发展指既满足当代人的发展需求又不损害、不掠夺后代发展需求能力的发展。它要求人类社会经济系统在地球生态系统承载能力下运作;要求社会发展不能单纯以经济增长为目的,而是要在保护生态环境基础上提高人类福利。社会资本概念为可持续发展提供了一个有用的工具。它不但使人类意识到可持续发展的内涵,而且运用社会资本可以限制自然资本开采、并减缓其对环境的破坏,提高制造资本利用效率,充分利用人力资本,从而推动可持续发展进程。介绍社会资本概念的基础上,从促进经济发展、自然资源可持续利用管理、环境保护以及缓解贫困等方面,阐述了社会资本促进可持续发展的理论机制。     

“走出去”利用国外油气资源的区域选择

近年来中国油气供需矛盾日益突出“,走出去”利用国外油气资源战略已成为国民经济可持续发展的一项重要内容,但世界油气资源地理分布不均,影响国外油气供给的因素纷繁复杂,因此,进行客观、可操作性强的区域选择非常必要。本文依据油气资源潜力、投资环境、地理位置和与中国的外交关系4个标准对中国利用国外油气资源的区域选择进行了全面的分析,并确定了中亚和俄罗斯、中东和北非、东南亚、南美4个战略区域。     

湖南娄底市旅游生态足迹趋势分析

生态足迹分析方法是近年发展起来的一种用生产性土地面积来定量衡量人类对自然资源利用程度和可持续发展能力的新方法. 旅游业对生态环境的影响程度和可持续发展能力可以用旅游生态足迹定量反映出来. 以生态足迹理论为基础,以湖南娄底市为实证对象,对2005-2012年旅游生态足迹、旅游生态承载力变化趋势进行分析. 结果表明：2005-2012年娄底市旅游生态足迹和旅游生态承载力都逐年增加,但二者增幅差异大,2010年是旅游生态盈余转为生态赤字的拐点,当前娄底市旅游发展以生态环境的退化为代价,是一种不可持续的旅游发展状态. 从旅游消费结构看,娄底市旅游生态足迹的7项分足迹中,以交通和餐饮生态足迹相对较大,而住宿、游览、娱乐、购物和废弃物排放产生的生态足迹相对较小. 实现娄底市旅游可持续发展对策：发展低碳旅游,提高资源利用率,合理控制旅游生态足迹的需求;保护旅游生态环境,提高旅游生态承载力;加强旅游生态安全控制,建立生态补偿机制.     

Delineation of groundwater recharge zones and identification of artificial recharge sites in West Medinipur district,West Bengal,using RS,GIS and MCDM techniques

Artificial recharge plays a pivotal role in the sustainable management of groundwater resources. This study proposes a methodology to delineate artificial recharge zones as well as to identify favorable artificial recharge sites using integrated remote sensing (RS), geographical information system (GIS) and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques for augmenting groundwater resources in the West Medinipur district of West Bengal, India, which has been facing water shortage problems for the past few years. The thematic layers considered in this study are: geomorphology, geology, drainage density, slope and aquifer transmissivity, which were prepared using IRS-1D imagery and conventional data. Different themes and their corresponding features were assigned proper weights based on their relative contribution to groundwater recharge in the area, and normalized weights were computed using the Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process (AHP). These thematic layers were then integrated in the GIS environment to delineate artificial recharge zones in the study area. The artificial recharge map thus obtained divided the study area into three zones, viz., ‘suitable,’ ‘moderately suitable’ and ‘unsuitable’ according to their suitability for artificial groundwater recharge. It was found that about 46% of the study area falls under ‘suitable’ zone, whereas 43% falls under the ‘moderately suitable’ zone. The western portion of the study area was found to be unsuitable for artificial recharge. The artificial recharge zone map of the study area was found to be in agreement with the map of mean groundwater depths over the area. Furthermore, forty possible sites for artificial recharge were also identified using RS and GIS techniques. Based on the available field information, check dams are suggested as promising artificial recharge structures. The results of this study could be used to formulate an efficient groundwater management plan for the study area so as to ensure sustainable utilization of scarce groundwater resources.     

From networks to uses patterns: the digital divide as seen from Africa

This paper gives an account of the work carried out in the AFRICA’NTI research network, which gathered together a hundred, mostly African, researchers. The results were presented at the conference on “the North–South Digital Divide” in 2003 and 2004 (see www.africanti.org). From network to uses patterns, it first questions the way in which the subject is defined. This is a controversial question; should we speak of a “ditch” rather than of “fracture”? This depends on the point of view, but also on the geopolitical situation, and is difficult to measure. The digital divide may be less important than it is usually believed. This paper presents several types of approaches dealing with the opportunities of new technologies for Africa, geographical aspects stressing the diversity of the situations considered, and the importance of a multilevel systemic analysis based on case studies. It is shown that a slow down in the dynamics of equipment has been observed in Africa for both mobile telephony and the Internet. This then raises the question of a risk of regression for the continent, based on the idea that inequalities in access and uses of ICTs matter less than whether these uses improve the living conditions of the poor people concerned.     

An assessment of women’s access to natural resources through communal projects in South Africa

With the passing of the apartheid regime and its multi-faceted mechanisms of exclusion, women in rural South Africa have begun expanding their access to natural resources for livelihood enhancement. One of the ways this has occurred is through community-based organizations that focus on local production as a mechanism to transform natural resources into material goods. While this practice is nearly ubiquitous throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the apartheid regime was particularly effective in limiting access to natural resources, a phenomenon reversed by the current democratic government. In this paper, we assess the impact of organizational design on women’s livelihood systems as a means of alleviating rural poverty. We surveyed women on both more formal, or bureaucratic, organizations and more informal, or socially-embedded, organizations. After locating the discussion in the relevant gender, environment, and livelihoods literatures, we employ four concepts, organizational context, environmental entitlement, livelihood systems, and gender and power relations to assess the impact of organizational design on livelihood enhancement. Having found that women derived no significant material benefit from participation in either type of organization, we conclude that women are straddling two processes, neo-liberalization and neo-traditionalism, that impact gender and power relations. This situation has left women in vulnerable positions within their organizations and with little livelihood enhancement.